1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention relates to cosmetic products, and particularly to topical dermal toners. Specifically, the present invention relates to a topical dermal toner comprising a composition or formula containing Morinda citrifolia designed to contribute to the overall health of the skin and prepare the skin for further care.
2. Background
Cosmetic skin care products abound in the marketplace. These products, while differing in their ingredients or formulations, share a common goal in seeking to achieve and maintain healthy, youthful looking and feeling skin. Researchers and manufacturing companies have spent considerable time and expended significant resources in researching and advancing skin care products in order to provide the most complete and effective skin care possible. These advances have seen moderate to extensive success in terms of both their marketability as well as their actual ability to care for and improve the skin of their users. Despite these advances, several different types of ingredients can be found in the myriad of cosmetic skin care products currently available. This is largely attributable to the many different skin types or characteristics in existence from individual to individual. Indeed, several skin types exist requiring different ingredients for proper care. Common skin types include dry, oily, sensitive, or any combination of these commonly referred to as combination skin. As a result of these varying skin types, different and specific skin-type ingredients are needed to satisfy and care for the skin.
In addition to differing skin types contributing to the numerous ingredients found among skin care products, research is ongoing to find yet further improved ingredients or compositions of ingredients that improve overall skin care. This is especially true regarding facial skin care products as the face comprises a more sensitive area than other parts of the body and is more susceptible to damage due to, among other things, sunlight, makeup, and aging. As a result, many products claiming to perform separate and distinct functions for the overall care of the skin, and particularly for the face, have been introduced on the marketplace. Typically, a skin care regime for the face includes cleansing, toning, and moisturizing, in proper sequence. Other steps may be added, such as firming the skin with an intensive repair serum, and/or applying a nighttime face cream or moisturizer.
The skin is made up of several layers. The stratum corneum, the top layer, forms a protective covering for the skin and controls the flow of water and substances in and out of the skin. This is known as a barrier function. To stay healthy, the skin has to cope with changing environmental conditions and repair damages at the same time. The skin is in a constant state of repair as it sheds the dead cells on the surface and replenishes the lower layers.
The skin is often abused by soaps, emulsifier-based cosmetics, hot water, or organic solvents. These each contribute to rob the skin of essential moisture, and to create a stressed barrier that does not function properly. Moisture loss and irritation increases, leaving the skin sensitive, scaly, and dry. Free-radical activity multiplies, causing more wrinkles and premature aging.
Research shows that using a skin care product that includes the skin's natural building blocks speeds the skin's ability to repair itself and keeps the barrier function at optimal levels. This approach treats the problem, not the symptom. Irritation stops before it can start so recurring problems are avoided, thus bringing the skin back to ideal conditions.
The consumer demand for “natural” based products has been growing in recent years. Chemical synthesis is perceived as environmentally unsafe. A chemically synthesized ingredient may contain harsh chemicals. Natural products are perceived as pure and mild and superior to chemically synthesized products. Delivering a cosmetic benefit from plant sources, however, is not trivial. In order to derive a real benefit from a “natural” source, not only does a plant or a part of the plant containing a specific active have to be identified, but a minimum concentration and/or a specific extract of that plant has to be identified which truly delivers a cosmetic benefit.
The use of toners has been discovered to provide an indispensable part of proper and healthy skin care, especially facial care. Toners provide many advantages including removal of impure elements from the skin, such as sebum; that can clog pores, balance the pH levels of upset skin, refresh and rejuvenate the skin, smoothen and tighten pores, and prepare the skin for moisturizers. Toners typically comprise two types—balancing or hydrating toners.
Many prior art compositions of toners used for removing sebum from the skin of a user typically employ from 30 to 60 percent by weight of one or more of ethanol, acetone, and isopropanol. Ethanol, acetone and isopropanol, however, tend to defat the skin and remove the intercellular lipids critical for retaining moisture in the skin. Further, the sebum that is removed is replaced in as few as two to three hours on average. These compositions also frequently cause an unpleasant stinging sensation when applied.
Other prior art toners employ aqueous solutions of water-soluble glycol ethers for removing sebum from the skin of a user in the treatment of acne. The glycol ethers are present in the compositions in significant amounts, for example at 20–50 percent by weight. These glycol ether-based compositions are a vast improvement over the more typical alcohol- or acetone-based compositions, in that the glycol ethers dissolve sebum well and can provide for extended suppression of normal sebum levels, but do not dissolve the intercellular lipids in the skin or produce an unpleasant stinging sensation. One very significant drawback to the glycol ether-based toning compositions, however, is their disagreeable odor which is not easily masked by perfumes.
Moreover, in a large number of cases, toners may contain chemicals which may produce “irritation,” including various inflammation symptoms or signs, when applied to the skin or mucosa. This may especially be true when applied to sensitive skin or certain other combination skin types.
In addition, many prior art toners contain compositions that do not provide sufficient barrier protection from harmful biological and environmental aging, while at the same time meeting the needs of the skin.
Therefore, what is needed is an alcohol-free toner that can help to protect the skins barrier repair and natural moisture, and that can help fight the harmful effects from daily agents tending to damage the skin.